Today, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Lebron v. Secretary, Florida Department of Children and Families, upheld a preliminary injunction that halted Floridaâ€™s law requiring drug testing of public assistance applicants as a condition of receiving Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (â€śTANFâ€ť).

Floridaâ€™s drug testing law was challenged by Navy veteran, single father and University of Central Florida student Luis LeBron who applied for TANF but refused to be drug tested. His challenge led to a federal trial court order halting the law from taking effect on the grounds that it likely violated the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the trial courtâ€™s decision.

â€śThe 11th Circuitâ€™s decision deals a devastating blow to any stateâ€™s attempt to impose suspicionless drug testing as a condition of receiving governmental benefitsâ€ť saysDaniel Abrahamson, director of Legal Affairs at the Drug Policy Alliance. â€śWe hope that lawmakers will choose to honor the constitution rather than scapegoat poor people in efforts to address perceived drug problems.â€ť

The Drug Policy Alliance -- together with American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry, Physicians and Lawyers for National Drug Policy, the Legal Action Center, Center for Juvenile and Criminal Justice, National Employment Law Project, Child Welfare Organizing Project, and National Advocates for Pregnant Women -- filed an amicuscuriae (friend-of-the-court) brief in the case challenging the random drug testing program. The brief exposed as baseless a key assumption underlining Floridaâ€™s law - that persons in need for financial assistance are more likely to use and abuse illicit drugs than other segments of the population. The brief argued that Floridaâ€™s drug testing scheme does not achieve any of its purported goals of protecting the well-being of children, promoting the employability of person on public assistance and assuring fiscal integrity, and does not pass the â€śspecial needsâ€ť test that is required to justify otherwise unconstitutional searches by government officials.

The court found that the state of Florida â€śpresented no empirical evidence to bolster its special needs argument that suspicionless drug testing of TANF applicants is in any way warranted.â€ť Further it stated, â€ś[t]here is nothing so special or immediate about the governmentâ€™s interest in ensuring that TANF recipients are drug free so as to warrant suspension of the Fourth Amendment.â€ť

The case is Lebron v. Secretary, Florida Department of Children and Families, Case No. 11-15258; http://www.ca11.uscourts.gov/opinions/ops/201115258.pdf

This piece was reprinted by Truthout with permission or license. It may not be reproduced in any form without permission or license from the source.

Today, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Lebron v. Secretary, Florida Department of Children and Families, upheld a preliminary injunction that halted Floridaâ€™s law requiring drug testing of public assistance applicants as a condition of receiving Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (â€śTANFâ€ť).

Floridaâ€™s drug testing law was challenged by Navy veteran, single father and University of Central Florida student Luis LeBron who applied for TANF but refused to be drug tested. His challenge led to a federal trial court order halting the law from taking effect on the grounds that it likely violated the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the trial courtâ€™s decision.

â€śThe 11th Circuitâ€™s decision deals a devastating blow to any stateâ€™s attempt to impose suspicionless drug testing as a condition of receiving governmental benefitsâ€ť saysDaniel Abrahamson, director of Legal Affairs at the Drug Policy Alliance. â€śWe hope that lawmakers will choose to honor the constitution rather than scapegoat poor people in efforts to address perceived drug problems.â€ť

The Drug Policy Alliance -- together with American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry, Physicians and Lawyers for National Drug Policy, the Legal Action Center, Center for Juvenile and Criminal Justice, National Employment Law Project, Child Welfare Organizing Project, and National Advocates for Pregnant Women -- filed an amicuscuriae (friend-of-the-court) brief in the case challenging the random drug testing program. The brief exposed as baseless a key assumption underlining Floridaâ€™s law - that persons in need for financial assistance are more likely to use and abuse illicit drugs than other segments of the population. The brief argued that Floridaâ€™s drug testing scheme does not achieve any of its purported goals of protecting the well-being of children, promoting the employability of person on public assistance and assuring fiscal integrity, and does not pass the â€śspecial needsâ€ť test that is required to justify otherwise unconstitutional searches by government officials.

The court found that the state of Florida â€śpresented no empirical evidence to bolster its special needs argument that suspicionless drug testing of TANF applicants is in any way warranted.â€ť Further it stated, â€ś[t]here is nothing so special or immediate about the governmentâ€™s interest in ensuring that TANF recipients are drug free so as to warrant suspension of the Fourth Amendment.â€ť

The case is Lebron v. Secretary, Florida Department of Children and Families, Case No. 11-15258; http://www.ca11.uscourts.gov/opinions/ops/201115258.pdf

This piece was reprinted by Truthout with permission or license. It may not be reproduced in any form without permission or license from the source.